Three “Second Layer” Blockchain Solutions to Keep an Eye On

You and I are both believers inblockchain. Not just blockchain, but Blockchain —bold with a capital B. It’s revolutionary, it’s inevitable, it’s the foundation of a new decentralized world, it’s a new fairness that pushes back against the lottery of what country you happen to be born in. It’s banking the unbanked. It’s taking back our data and identity. It’s a better world that we just know is imminent.

But in reality, blockchain is first generation technology, hobbled by first generation problems. Blockchain is slow. Blockchain is expensive. Blockchain is buggy. Blockchain lacks privacy.

Today we’re dialed in to American Online, with our 56k modem, in an open chat room with the NSA lurking. And we just lost our connection because our mom picked up the phone to call her sister, and now she’s yelling at us because our free trial ended last week and she told us — like ten times — that she wasn’t paying $2.95 an hour for whatever crap we were doing, and just what were we doing, anyway?

I’m saying that blockchain is really exciting, but so new it’s still got the tags attached, and it’s a really shitty experience for everyone.

This is where second layer comes in. Second layer is the projects, platforms, and protocols that sit on top of base blockchain and try to make the technology, and the user experience, better.

We need these second layer projects to succeed. We need smart people to create smart projects that push blockchain to mass adoption. The world is tired, yes, of Big Corp cashing in on our personal data. And of Big Corp controlling our infrastructure. And of Big Corp/Big Gov/Big Dictator controlling our money. But the world also demands the responsiveness, scalability, and ease of use that Big Corp has created on web and mobile. Until blockchain can provide a user experience that is delightful, we won’t see the mass adoption that we hope for. Second layer is the second step to the revolution.

Below I present three second layer projects that have big goals in blockchain and are still in their early stages. You might not have heard of these projects — they are all pre-ICO, pre-hype — but all three are well-funded, technically sound, have exceptional teams, and are looking to expose a better blockchain experience.